Archive for ‘Book of the Month’

This book by a Bruderhof pastor has “the tenor of wise counsel,” says our reviewer. It’s “full of advice for cherishing, guiding and nurturing children, and it is realistic about the challenges of parenting.”

Is there such a thing as a spirituality of food? The author says that family mealtimes and slower eating are key to a “saner and healthier diet.” She makes a persuasive case for “more mindful eating” and ways to “reframe our food-focused thinking.”

Many adult children come back home to live for awhile these days. This book by the author of a similarly-titled, well-known childrens’ series, is an account of the (temporary) return of her youngest son and his family.

The author, an abuse survivor, offers helps for those who experienced childhood sexual abuse. She draws on the wisdom of the saints, such as Ignatius of Loyola and Theresa of Lisieux, to guide the sufferer through difficult periods.

This little collection of reflections by Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, on how we treat those around us is brief, but profound. Our neighbor, Lubich writes, is “one of the straightest roads to God.”

Will a wife and husband who together create a meal for the two of them not only stay together but enrich their relationship in ways that contribute to their long-term happiness? This priest/chef/author offers tempting recipes plus discussion-starters to help spouses rekindle their marriage.

Subtitled “Spiritual and Practical Support for Couples,” this book delivers what it promises. It offers a comprehensive look at infertility from many perspectives, including possible treatments in light of Church teaching.

How can parents encourage each family member “to grow in faith, hope and love”? Drawing on the wisdom of St. Benedict, the author offers practical guidance for dealing with the difficult tasks of family life.

Most parents would agree that communicating with teenagers about relationships and love is anything but easy. The book will “help parents teach their children to deal with all aspects of the relationships they’ll form throughout their lives.”

Here’s an ideal book for couples who want to strengthen their marriage from the outset. It outlines five challenges couples will experience as they begin to build their own marriage, and it directly relates each challenge to an opportunity flowing from it.

For the faithful Catholic mother who seeks to raise her children in a devout household, the author offers support and ideas. Motherhood, she says, is not a condition to be endured but a vocation to be embraced.

Here’s an excellent choice for your summer spiritual reading. Fr. Kelly’s new book offers “a meditation on what it means to identify God as love.” He hopes it will encourage readers to contemplate God’s “awe-inspiring transcendence” and the transforming reality of divine love.

If you have suffered the loss of a child through miscarriage, or know someone who has, this book will help you to better understand and deal with the experience. Although written for Catholic women, its information, reflections and resources are accessible to people of all faiths.

“Living through grief takes courage,” Gretchen Schwenker says in this new book.” She compiled prayers and reflections for people who lose someone they love and struggle to “cope with the pain,” hoping in time to remake their lives.

Based on interviews with successful, long-married couples, the authors offer insights for those who want to make the most of the later years of marriage. This enjoyable, easy-to-read book includes stories and questions for reflection.

“This short book–“for imperfect parents”–includes prayers for all kinds of occasions in family life, along with observations and suggestions for parents. There’s a prayer for letting go, and another when a child is in the emergency room. It’s a great book to keep close at hand and to use often.

“In these hectic, hurry-up, stressful times, every couple we know – including ourselves – is rushing around to get more done in less time,” say the authors. “Life in the fast lane inevitably means less time with the one you love.” Read how couples can maximize their time together.

“We do not need to retreat to a monastery, convent or mountain cabin for prayer, fasting and a traditional contemplative life in order to become increasingly virtuous, Christ-like persons,” says the author, David Sanderlin. “We can become increasingly virtuous, Christ-like persons in our own home by acting with love, wisdom and other Christian virtues in our busy marriage and family life.”

Several hundred brief and not-quite-so-brief quotations on marriage, family life and parenthood make up “The Catholic Marriage Wisdom Book” compiled by Donna Marie Cedar-Southworth. There is advice here – from Scripture, novelists, theologians, famous individuals and ordinary married couples — for making marriage work, along with reflections on the meaning of marriage and the personal growth of spouses.

Throughout www.foryourmarriage.org, links to other websites are provided solely for the user’s convenience. USCCB assumes no responsibility for these websites, their content, or their sponsoring organizations.